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August 31, 2007

Have fun!

As I write, I’m getting ready to ride my bike out to the South
Bronx to meet my local environmental hero Kate Zidar, who works,
among other places, at the Youth Ministries for
Peace and Justice. We’re going to paddle around the Bronx River and look at one of NYC’s ten
worst combined sewer overflows (CSOs), which regularly dumps raw sewage into
the river.

It’s an hour and a half bike ride there and an hour and a
half back, and I’m not going to feel like writing blog entries tonight. So I’m
writing this now, at 10 AM on a
beautiful sunny morning of what, by the time your read this, will be yesterday.

“If you didn't want anything in return, nothing at all,
what's the most generous thing you could do for your best
customer…Give it a try.”

I thought of two things, and this may be more what I need
than what you need, more generous to me than you, but here goes: don't forget to have fun!

It probably sounds trite and stupid, but the advice feels like just about the kindest thing I could say to a bunch of people who drop by a blog out of concern for the world's problems every day. Certainly, it's what I need to hear.

In the life mission I wrote out for myself a couple of years
ago, there is a sentence that talks about the importance of having fun. The
thing is, I often forget about that part.

Being constantly depressed about the state of the world is a
drag and it doesn’t attract people to the solution. More to the point, it’s a
waste of our lives. Is the world worth saving if it’s no fun?

The second thing I have to give you is the video below. It’s soppy, it’s old,
and I posted it before, but I love it. Posting it again is one way for me to
have fun. Watching it is another.

And now, I’m off for my canoe ride, and even if I’ll be paddling
through a soup of other people’s poo (actually, it probably won’t
because it hasn’t rained for a while), I’m going to have fun.

PS Watch in the video for the bit when the first little old lady accepts the hug, she touches his face, and the video turns to color. Pure schmaltz, but it gets me every time.

PPS Happy birthday to me!

----------

Colin Beavan (that's me!) is now leading a conversation about finding a happy, helpful life at Colinbeavan.com. If you want to know how people are breaking out and and finding authentic, meaningful lives that help our world, check it out the blog here and sign up to join the conversation here.

TrackBack

» Make MeLaugh! from La Marguerite
No Impact Man and I must be on the same wavelength. Just as I was feeling dragged down by the enormity of the work to be done, I read his post today about the importance of fun. Humans respond to humor, especially in times of crisis. Look at YouTube. ... [Read More]

Tracked on August 31, 2007 at 12:37 PM

Comments

Have fun!

As I write, I’m getting ready to ride my bike out to the South
Bronx to meet my local environmental hero Kate Zidar, who works,
among other places, at the Youth Ministries for
Peace and Justice. We’re going to paddle around the Bronx River and look at one of NYC’s ten
worst combined sewer overflows (CSOs), which regularly dumps raw sewage into
the river.

It’s an hour and a half bike ride there and an hour and a
half back, and I’m not going to feel like writing blog entries tonight. So I’m
writing this now, at 10 AM on a
beautiful sunny morning of what, by the time your read this, will be yesterday.

“If you didn't want anything in return, nothing at all,
what's the most generous thing you could do for your best
customer…Give it a try.”

I thought of two things, and this may be more what I need
than what you need, more generous to me than you, but here goes: don't forget to have fun!

It probably sounds trite and stupid, but the advice feels like just about the kindest thing I could say to a bunch of people who drop by a blog out of concern for the world's problems every day. Certainly, it's what I need to hear.

In the life mission I wrote out for myself a couple of years
ago, there is a sentence that talks about the importance of having fun. The
thing is, I often forget about that part.

Being constantly depressed about the state of the world is a
drag and it doesn’t attract people to the solution. More to the point, it’s a
waste of our lives. Is the world worth saving if it’s no fun?

The second thing I have to give you is the video below. It’s soppy, it’s old,
and I posted it before, but I love it. Posting it again is one way for me to
have fun. Watching it is another.

And now, I’m off for my canoe ride, and even if I’ll be paddling
through a soup of other people’s poo (actually, it probably won’t
because it hasn’t rained for a while), I’m going to have fun.

PS Watch in the video for the bit when the first little old lady accepts the hug, she touches his face, and the video turns to color. Pure schmaltz, but it gets me every time.